Tonight
by RuthWriter
Summary: One-shot. "Tonight, he would mourn the love that could have been. Tonight, he would miss her."


**A/N: So this story came to me in bits and pieces as I was trying to fall asleep last night. This is my first story for NCIS. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, or anything you recognize.**

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Somewhere along the way, he'd stopped calling just so he could hear her voice tell him to leave a message. At some point in time, he stopped pulling her necklace out of his desk in every spare moment. Soon, he stopped thinking of it as her desk. Eventually, he stopped taking the stairs, because he could handle the memories the elevator brought. And he stopped thinking about her every waking hour.

Then he started going out. At first it was hard. He was shy and reserved. Something that the former Anthony Dinozzo Jr, never was. Then he opened up. Before long, he had girls numbers written on everything from his hand to a tennis ball. That's right. Tony had his swag back.

And Bishop was starting to feel like part of the team. He no longer compared the two. He guessed it helped that Bishop was more like Kate.

So when Tony opened his door, she wasn't even on his brain. Nope. He tossed his keys in the dish beside his door. He shed his coat, and rubbed his hands together, chilled by the cold winter wind. His first instinct was to make a cup of coffee, but if he did, he'd be awake all night. So he settled for hot chocolate.

He sat down in a chair. His answering machine was beeping, and he pressed play. It was a message about "the chance of a lifetime". All he had to do was "take a quick survey". He pressed delete and looked at his answering machine. There were over fifty messages. He decided to delete some. Blowing on the steaming liquid before him, he went through message after message of girls he had hooked up with. He'd left his number so that he wouldn't get a reputation of the sort, but he never had any intention of calling any of them back. Sarah, Dana, Beth…

Then he heard the voice that made his heart stop. The mug fell from his hands, shattering on the floor below. But he didn't pay attention. All he heard was her voice. The voice that made him warm inside, but made him feel like he'd been punched in the stomach, all at the same time.

"Tony, it's me. I thought you'd be home by now. Abby and I are at the store picking out the decorations for McGee's surprise party. We need your opinion. I'll call your cell."

Obviously, it was an old message. He'd built up walls. The sound of her name didn't bother him anymore, her picture hardly fazed him. But her voice…It made him want to curl up into a ball, and miss her. And the crumbling started. He was falling apart, piece by piece, and before he could stop himself, he reached for the phone, dialing the number he had committed to memory. Just to hear her voice. Because it was happening again.

And for the first time since she left, he didn't automatically hear her voice telling him to leave a message. Instead, he heard the digital sound of ringing. Once, twice, and his heart was beating so hard, he feared it would jump out of his chest. And then the ringing stopped.

"Hello?" But it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of a man.

Shock took over, and he didn't answer. He couldn't really. His lips formed words, but nothing came out. A man. It was a man. Answering her phone. Then the man repeated. "Hello?"

Tony cleared his throat. "Umm yes. Is Ziva there?" he choked out.

"Sorry man, there's nobody here by that name. You must have the wrong number."

Tony thanked the man, and hung up. He checked the number in his recently dialed, but it was just as he suspected. It was the right number. But it was over. She had truly moved on. She had cancelled her service, and the number had been given to someone else. Her number. A sob shook his body and he put his face in his hands. He paid no mind to the broken shards of ceramic, the chocolate liquid pooled at his feet.

Tomorrow, he would be brave. Tomorrow, he would hook up with another girl. And maybe he'd call her back. Probably not. Tomorrow, he would be Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo Jr. But tonight he was just Tony. Tonight, he would mourn the love that could have been. Tonight, he would miss her.

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**A/N: So, what did you think? Drop me a review on the way out.**


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